Preparing the Floating Batteries

The fame of the siege of Gibraltar had ere this spread to the remotest corners of Europe.

Continuing The Siege of Gibraltar 1782,
our selection from The History of Gibraltar and of Its Political Relation to Events in Europe by Frederick Sayer published in 1862. The selection is presented in seven easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in The Siege of Gibraltar 1782.

Time: 1782
Place: Gibraltar

At a given signal the fire from our whole line will open with that of the intrenchment, which will not cease until a breach shall have been made at the Europa Point. The battering-ships will not be allowed to quit their respective posts till they require relief, and they will then retire to Algeciras, whence others will proceed to supply their places, taking up the same points. The officer who shall act counter to his orders will be removed from his post without its being referred to the King. The breach having been made, the commander-in-chief, the Duc de Crillon, will notify to the governor the surrender of the fortress; and should he consent to the capitulation, the preliminaries will be arranged, conceding to him military honors; if he persists in the defense, the operations will continue in the following manner:

The fire by sea and land will protect the disembarkation of our troops on the flanks of the advance. The boats conveying them will be covered by large planks on hinges, which on unfolding will fall on the moles on the right, while on the left others will rest on the transports that follow, in order to link them to each other and adjust them to the breach, binding them firmly together, the first boat being attached to the ground by means of grappling-irons, which it will carry for the purpose. The troops will advance along these in the following order: Two companies of grenadiers of about seventy men each, and as many more of chasseurs, with three companies of dragoons, the whole under the command of Señor Cagigal, general of the second column, and his subaltern officers, the brigadier Don Francesco Pacheco, Colonel of Seville, and Señor Aviles, Colonel of Villaviciosa. Two battalions of volunteers of Catalonia will form the flying troops to effect a support where it may be necessary, and to strengthen either flank, or profiting by any opportunity the enemy may offer of attacking him. This corps will be commanded by Brigadier Don Benito Panogo.

The army will be formed into three divisions; its right commanded by Lieutenant-General Buch, its left by the Count of Cifuentes, and its center by Marshal Burghesi. The best company of grenadiers from each regiment will be detached to cover its respective corps, and when the disembarkation of the troops, or part of them, shall have been executed, the boats carrying the fascines, powder-saucisses, gabions, panniers, pickaxes, etc., will be sent forward in order that they may cover themselves as the disembarkation proceeds, keeping up at the same time a lively fire along with the rest of the army. Detached parties will scour with promptitude the Campo Huevo in order to intercept the advanced guard and to cut off the retreat of the enemy to the mountain; which dispositions being well concerted, the enemy will be reduced to the extremity of either surrendering or being destroyed.

The squadron of Señor Cordova will cover the mouth of the Straits, and the French will place itself as much within as circumstances may require; two hundred muheletes and two hundred artillerymen more have been asked for from the camp, those that are present being required for the intrenchment. These have been sent for from their respective corps.”

The fame of the siege of Gibraltar had ere this spread to the remotest corners of Europe. The Count d’Artois, brother to the King of France, and the Duc de Bourbon arrived in the camp in August, impatient to witness the fall of the invincible fortress, and they were followed by crowds of the nobility of Spain, eager to join in an enterprise which it was anticipated would result in a victory most glorious to their arms.

General Eliot regarded the progress of the tremendous armaments without despondency. He prepared for the coming storm, and made every effort to meet it manfully and with success. An experiment which had lately been tried with red-hot shot produced such effects that he founded his hopes of destroying the enemy’s battering-ships almost solely upon that expedient, and great numbers of furnaces for heating the shot were immediately prepared and placed in convenient positions within the principal batteries. The defenses too were thoroughly repaired, the Land Port was more carefully protected, and unserviceable guns were laid across the tops of the embrasures in many of the works, as a protection to the artillerymen when under fire.

The arrival of the Count d’Artois in the camp gave rise to an interchange of courtesies between the governor and the Duc de Crillon, and though the two chiefs were on the eve of a great struggle for the mastery, letters couched in the most affable and peaceful terms passed between them. The Count having brought with him a packet of letters for some officers of the garrison, the Duc de Crillon took advantage of the opportunity, and, when the parcel was sent into the fortress, accompanied it by a letter from himself to General Eliot, in which he expressed the highest esteem for the governor’s person and character, and assured him how anxiously he looked forward to becoming his friend; at the same time he offered a present of a few luxuries for the General’s table. In reply to this courteous note the governor returned his sincerest thanks for the gift, but begged that in future no such favor might be heaped upon him, as by accepting the present he had broken through a rule to which he had faithfully adhered since the beginning of the war, never to receive anything for his own private use, but to partake both of plenty and scarcity in common with the lowest of his brave fellow-soldiers.

Toward the end of August, 1782, a grand inspection of the floating batteries took place at Algeciras, at which the French princes were present. To exhibit the ease and simplicity with which they could be maneuvered, the vessels were put through various movements, to the admiration and surprise of the spectators. So satisfactory was this trial considered that it became the popular opinion that twenty-four hours would suffice for the demolition of the fortress, and the Duc de Crillon was made the subject of the greatest ridicule when he cautiously hinted that fourteen days might elapse ere the place fell. Crillon, in fact had no affection for the schemes of the Chevalier d’Arçon, and, as we shall presently see, he attributed his subsequent failure almost entirely to the blind confidence that was placed in the floating batteries.

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